Reunion
by The Red Beret
Summary: It was all her fault. His cold, wooden frame hadn't been cold to him, for coldness itself never used to feel like anything. Pain never even seemed possible, and in his puppet body he could at least allow himself to feel somewhat immortal. Until now.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hi, everyone! This is the first time I've ever attempted to write a fan-fiction. Before you think to yourself, 'She expects us to go easy on her because of that?', know that I'm not saying that to get sympathy or anything. I say it because I realize that I am unheard of on FFN, and knowing that might give you an idea of where I already stand as far as being good at writing goes, since this is pretty much the first time I've actually written something like a story. Please don't judge me based on this. I'm striving to improve, I really am. If you're reading my first "chapter" just to pick out the negatives, I politely ask that you do not leave flames! I don't know what kind of people are out there who are reading this, so I apologize if I've offended you by assuming a reaction like that. Constructive criticism is welcome, and yes -- there IS a difference.

Anyway, I'm really unsure of where I want to go with this. I haven't thought of a good title (the one I have now will probably change over time), and since I'm even clueless as to what will happen next, I can't write an accurate summary. Yet. For now, I've decided to try uploading my writing for once, even though I find it pretty boring. If it isn't well-liked, I don't mind taking it down or anything. It doesn't mean I'll stop writing, I just don't want reading it to be unpleasant to people. If I happen to continue this story, the chapters will without a doubt be longer because I think this one is way too short. There will also be actual dialogue, for obvious reasons. It will get better once I develop an actual summary. I don't know how to explain it, but I can't say I'm satisfied at all with the way this turned out. I feel like it's hardly worth anything -- barely even the time to read it, but I really would like to know what _you_ think of it.

**Disclaimer:** Masashi Kishimoto owns everything Naruto, not me.

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**" Chapter One "**

_Fear._

It was simply the only word he could use to describe the tightening twist of emotion that he could practically sense flooding off of her entire mind and body, almost in waves; yet at the same time he could tell it barely even scratched the surface of what she was feeling. Yes, he saw it. It was so, so simply written in every movement--every tremble and every stiff, uneven step she took as she still uselessly attempted to get away from him; every shift in her gaze as her eyes darted around, desperately searching for what was next...but there was only so much you could read from one person.

"Sakura..." She visibly froze for a split second upon hearing her name and the low chuckle that came after it. Suddenly she couldn't feel any of her minor injuries anymore -- the gashes and burns on her left shoulder, bruises on one side of her face, and a broken left ankle that didn't make running away any easier; they were the last thing on her mind. The adrenaline pumping through her along with her speeding heart rate seemed to awaken a sort of instinct of survival inside of her as he watched, taking his time walking forward. Admittedly, he was surprised when he found that instead of normally having the will to fight, the only thing on her mind was an escape by which she could possibly preserve her own life -- for that was what she seemed to feel was in danger. It was understandable. What else would she be thinking, seeing the man she had so apparently killed almost more than a year ago show up again and decide to follow her in a place like this? And what reason did he have for keeping her _alive_ upon their reunion, anyway? Though he himself was unsure of the consequences that would result if he killed her, she was right to run; finally she saw that and did not challenge him. It was hard not to chuckle at the irony of it all that this time, she was his. Without a _doubt_, she was his.

It didn't seem right to him how before, her small, dainty stature seemed to defend itself so well against each puppet he wielded.

His power and tactics had obviously been difficult for her to overcome, but she still had nonetheless. Though she hadn't been alone last time, of course, he thought.

Now the clear sight of her tousled and matted pink hair only added to the image of her complete helplessness.

Now, there was no spirit -- no _fire_ -- in those eyes.

_God_, her eyes. He remembered how in only the first mere instant of gazing into green how shocked, how intrigued, he had been at the amount he could already read from her. Though at the time it hadn't been so completely obvious as now, he knew, for who would really know so much about somebody by a simple glance?

They were two completely different people, in every single way. From the innocence in her appearance to the loyalty she held to her village; from the obvious comradeship she had with her teammates, to the simple fact that she fought for an opposite belief -- her justice, against a deadly and deceitful force: Akatsuki. At the very base of things, too, she was human...and he, an incomplete puppet, or perhaps just an incomplete human? He wasn't sure what to call a being who was still just below the reach of humanity and an empty shell at the same time. The fact remained that she was purely one thing, untouched, and he would never be -- _could_ never be, for he had always considered himself a puppet regardless of his physical form or not. The non-human mentality he had acquired from being wooden and cold and numb for so long was something that he felt could not be altered.

Vaguely he had wondered why it even mattered that he had encountered someone so completely opposite of himself, and tried to justify his pursuing her. He had met and killed many people in the past, and none of them could even come close to being the slightest bit like him. They were _all_ different; they were all equally opposite in comparison, in his eyes. What made this girl...more so? How could she be even more different than any of the others? Or perhaps, he even considered, there had been something -- only _one _thing, he decided out of his bruised pride -- that had been the same underneath all that was different, that he could only subconsciously notice in some far under-layer of his mind. Regardless, he still had reason to be in pursuit of her, hadn't he?

After all, it was her fault. His cold, wooden frame had not been cold to him, for coldness itself never used to feel like anything. Pain never crossed his mind as something possible, and in his puppet body he could at least allow himself to feel somewhat "immortal."

Until now.

Things weren't the same anymore. In his current state, he could feel the cold. He could feel the forgotten pain on the flesh he had been a stranger to for so long, and often only remembered what could hurt when it was too late and he was already paying for it with the blood that now ran, red and warm, through his veins.

She was the reason he was no longer "immortal."

Haruno Sakura.

She still hadn't realized that her hopes for a way out were futile. The way things were, there was no chance of escape for her, not at that moment anyway. They had all made sure of that. Smirking lightly, his garnet eyes took on a look of amusement, with only the faintest, slightest bit of insanity. She had always been amusing, the puppeteer recalled, though this was much different from their previous encounter. He hadn't had such power over her then; she hadn't been shaking nearly as much as she was now. He had caught up to her, and moments passed as he stared, and she stared too.

_Silence._

Part of it, he guessed, was probably because she felt the end was coming and she was closer than ever now -- words had no real meaning, no importance. But how wrong she was, he thought. This was only the beginning, and now as the back of his hand brushed the unscathed side of her pale face in some type of mock affection he watched for any sign of emotion that might show, other than the dread that had so engulfed her to this point.

_Complete shock._ It was something very amusing to him indeed, with her eyes only slightly widened, but that didn't even begin to depict it. He was confused at the reaction for only a second until he realized the same thing she did. Her body froze over, her breath let out in one full expiration of surprise and suddenly there was no more shaking, no more trembling...no more running away. He had completely trapped her, if only for one moment, by the sheer lack of the chilling, solid, smooth wood that she had been ready for -- replaced by the light sensation of _skin_ that did not belong to her, caressing her cheek.

He expected a blood-curdling scream. He expected her fear to be too much at this point, that she would lose consciousness altogether and faint from how incredibly real he just became to her. Heck, he even expected_ tears _over what had just happened instead of the girl being two steps ahead of him, but that would have been too easy. It made no sense to him, but the fire must have suddenly returned and Sasori was not prepared for it as her fist shot swiftly upward.

Barely managing to gather any chakra she had left, Sakura punched him straight in the face that was wooden no more.

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	2. Chapter 2

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Chapter Two

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It took a little while for the world to come into focus for Sakura when she opened her eyes.

The 'world' itself only consisted of what appeared to be a decrepit space. Sitting up from the cold hard floor, she raised a hand to her head at the dull ache she felt there and tried to recall how her current situation came to be. She was obviously captured by the Akatsuki, she knew that much -- shivers ran down her spine every time she took a glance around at the tiny and cold stone-walled room she was in. They had attacked her village, where everyone was fighting their hardest until -- _'No. Don't think about them right now. It's not going to help anything.' _She drew in a long breath and held it in for a while until she remembered her latest encounter. _'Sasori...Akasuna no Sasori. Was I imagining it again, or is he really--'_ She flinched suddenly, noticing that her hand had subconsciously strayed to her cheek. _'I definitely wasn't imagining this time. No. He's real now, but how is that possible?'_ She shut her eyes in thought, ignoring the fact that it wasn't much darker than it was when her eyes were open. He had probably been the one who brought her here, she decided. He had obviously recognized her and wanted more than anything to get revenge for what she had done, or _almost_ done, anyway. If that were the case, he would be back; she would get her chance to demand the answers when the time came. Even if she had to put up another fight before that happened, then so be it, she thought, a slight smirk gracing her lips. _'Hopefully by then more of my chakra will return. He didn't seem very upset at all the moment before he...before I thought he was dead. Maybe that was just an act. But if he wanted to kill me, why didn't he do it when he had the chance?' _She remembered the dark and dank corridors she had feared would be her deathbed. He had only followed her to the end of the hall, and had done no harm to her after that. If she had known he wouldn't hurt her, she would not have had to hit him. Her chakra would be stronger, and perhaps she would already have her questions answered if she'd done that as well. She sighed in frustration and crossed her arms across her chest -- half due to the lack of warmth and also because she was irritated beyond belief.

"What a strange man," she whispered out loud. Her voice slightly echoed off of the drab gray stones that were the walls of her prison, making her feel more alone than ever. The coldness of the room was beginning to numb her and she was slowly losing the feeling in her hands and feet.

"What a strange girl," a masculine voice unexpectedly replied. Suddenly she was not so alone; Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin. Her eyes shot up to the open doorway as the object of her thoughts entered with a tray in his hands, and Sakura's brow furrowed in confusion at how she was so easily caught off her guard and didn't even hear the door open. In the little light the room had to offer she could see that he carried an indifferent expression on his face, except for the small flicker of amusement in his garnet eyes that made Sakura feel like an inferior child. He stared at her for a full minute -- during which Sakura had quickly backed herself as far away from him as she could, and stared right back.

"You're quite the talker."

"How did I get here?"

He smirked slightly. "Oh, that. It was actually quite amusing...one second you were throwing punches, the next, collapsed on the floor in a heap."

She said nothing.

"But I do admit you have quite a punch indeed." He shrugged. "I brought you here after you passed out."

Again, she chose silence.

"You know...other prisoners would probably be screaming and on the verge of insanity right now--"

"--Sorry to disappoint you," she muttered fiercely.

"--if they knew they'd been out cold for three whole days and their village still hadn't even lifted a finger to try to save them, " he continued as if there was no interruption. He set the metal tray down by her feet and stood, towering over her.

Her eyes widened a bit at his words, but she showed no reaction to his close proximity. She was already the prisoner -- how much more inferior could she feel in this situation? "They're probably on their way now as we--"

"--Really? That's not what our surveillance shows." Sakura was surprised that she no longer found the hostile personality in him that he had displayed before. "They won't be able to find the base, anyway."

"You underestimate them."

"The last time I made that mistake with a Konoha shinobi I nearly died." He looked at her pointedly.

"Sucks for you," she smiled in mock sweetness, but she was secretly in a panic. Why hadn't Konoha sent a rescue team yet? Had they forgotten her? No, that was impossible -- Naruto had seen her as she was carried off, she remembered it all too clearly now. Naruto...Naruto would be the one who would want to come and get her, no doubt of it, but she also remembered her shishou telling her that the Akatsuki's goal was to take _Naruto_away. So it was good, she realized in relief. Naruto would not be put in danger because of her as long as they didn't send anyone. The image of his horror-stricken face at seeing her in their hands invaded her mind unwillingly. Naruto, thinking it was his fault that they took _her_ instead. _'Naruto and...' _It took nearly all of her energy to keep the choking urge to cry from surfacing at the painful thought, but she would rather stay where she was if it meant protecting Naruto.

The sound of his small laughs was really starting to annoy her. He was laughing at something he was keeping to himself -- something he knew that she didn't, about her. "We'll see..." Her gaze hardened on him, not liking the tone of his voice one bit. He remained unfazed and the amusement in his eyes was still there. Sasori was deliberately_ trying _to annoy her, she realized in frustration, and it was working.

"What do you want with me? If you plan on killing me you're wasting your time with these pointless delays. It's not like I'll tell you anything anyway, so why am I here? Just because your raid on Konoha was a complete failure in attempting to capture Naruto and destroy our village, you couldn't retreat without taking _something_with you to nurse that pathetic injured pride of yours?!" Sakura glared at him. She knew she might have been pushing it, but at the moment she couldn't find it in herself to care.

"So many questions, I see," he chuckled again. He seemed to have more patience somehow.

"Answer me!" she spat.

"I will, once you ask the one question I'm actually entitled to tell you," Sasori raised his eyebrows slightly and smirked. "I know it's been bothering you."

"The only thing bothering me right now is _you._" Her voice dripped with venom.

"Exactly...I thought you had somewhat of a right to know, as my former opponent."

Her patience snapped and she began to raise her voice. "I don't care what you have to say to me...I will never think of you as anything _but_ an opponent, an enemy -- a _monster! _So stop it...Stop...trying to confuse me! You're hardly acting like an_ opponent _would, what's wrong with you?! You're only trying to get me to tell you what you want to know, before you _kill me_, is that right? I'm not stupid, and I won't talk! I won't! So stop! _STOP IT!"_

He stepped forward suddenly and grabbed the hysteric kunoichi by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Sakura, stop screaming," he ordered quietly; the stern undertones of his voice went by unnoticed as she now struggled in his grip. He led her to the other side of the room where their only light source stood on a small table, so that the little amount of light the oil lamp in that corner of the room gave off now spread across his face. The effect made his red-brown eyes appear darker and even more alluring, if possible; his crimson hair shone from the warm glow of the flame that danced behind the glass lamp on the wooden surface beside them. It wasn't right, Sakura thought through her hysterics. No one so horrible should look like that -- it wasn't the face of a criminal, or at least, it didn't look like it. Criminals weren't supposed to look like angels. She shuddered, now completely at a loss for words, and could only stare at the brilliance of the beautiful, but terrible man in front of her. Moments passed until her eyes caught the sight of the discoloration all along the side of his face, where a harsh purple interrupted the otherwise smooth alabaster skin. Despite every bit of sense in her head warning her not to, her hand automatically shot out and touched the side of his face. Her mind barely registered that her fingers felt less numb against the warmth of his face, where soon after a pale green glow began to emanate. He flinched slightly out of shock, and Sakura couldn't tell whether it was from the unexpected feeling of her chakra or if he'd anticipated another punch in the face. She decided not to dwell on it. A moment later she had pulled her hand away.

He watched as she moved to the farthest side of the room after that, collapsing in the corner. At any other time, Sakura would never have allowed anyone, especially the young man in front of her, to see such weakness. The sudden wave of utter grief that overcame her just then was too much for her to bear, though, and she sat still with her forehead flat against her knees, waiting to be left alone so that she could try to sleep. _'What is wrong with __me__? How could I do something so stupid?' _Her body shuddered. _'Have I become so weak that I will now help even the people who continue to cause me to suffer?' _Mentally attempting to convince herself that it was her duty as a medic surfacing made her feel hollow, for in the back of her mind she knew that was not the only reason._ 'You felt terrible at the sight of such a beautiful face -- seeing it marred by your hand, because of you...' _She shook her head to rid the invading thought, and waited minute after minute, hoping that ignoring him would cause him to lose interest. It only seemed to make him settle himself, unfortunately, right next to her -- where he took the liberty of stroking the pink strands of her hair that fell around her crouched form.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" he asked quietly, pulling the forgotten tray of lukewarm food across the floor to her.

"I'm not very hungry anymore...besides, I know better than...to eat food provided by a poisons expert," she replied sleepily, her smirk hidden from his view.

"No, it has not been tampered with...I thought you would say something like that, though," he added with a chuckle. "You always think so negatively."

"You say that as if a positive outlook even _exists_ when you've been abducted from your home and the people you love. What choice have I but to be on constant guard if I want to keep on living?" She bit her tongue to try to hold back her words, but something in her mind also told her that this might be the only chance she got to say them. "Just when we can finally stop worrying about one thing...when we finally begin to feel like happiness can exist again to us, there's just another tragedy waiting for its turn."

"What troubles of yours were solved before the assault on Konoha?" He was taken aback by her sudden sincerity that poured through her words, and by the fact that she was now talking to him by her own free will. He admitted he was curious -- this girl had obviously seen much more through than he had expected. _'And at least she is not freaking out anymore.'_

She gave a harshly high-pitched laugh on the verge of hysteria once again. "Your ex-_partner_ was finally murdered."

_'Or not.' _He blinked and decided to keep talking. "My _ex_-partner, indeed. Orochimaru. It was only a matter of time for him. He was practically asking to die. Who did it?"

She flinched out of habit when he said the name. "My..." _My first love._ "My long-lost teammate who abandoned the village four years ago. After that, he finally came back to us...back to me, back _home_..." Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.

An uncomfortable silence followed, which Sakura wasn't about to break. She took the moment to compose herself and recollect the thoughts in her head, greatly embarrassed about her previous outburst. She decided to chance a look at Sasori, which resulted in another endless staring contest. She shuddered slightly, knowing he had already been looking at her, and had probably noticed her trembling.

"Don't you want to know, Sakura?" he whispered suddenly. Her blood felt like ice. "Don't you want to know...how I am human again?"

She gave a small nod, unsure of his current mood. If his violent side was once again showing itself, she didn't want to say the wrong thing to upset him. They both knew there was no way she could put up a fight in her current state. With only a quarter of her chakra replenished from her fighting in Konoha, the outcome was more than predictable -- it was certain. He had wanted her to ask him about it anyway, and he had been right when he said it was bugging her. She hesitated, and nodded more firmly a second time.

"You wondered why I seemed not to care as I was dying...I could see it in your eyes, you stared at me with such disbelief that day. But I am no fool, Sakura. Before I sealed my soul into a puppet, I made sure to keep something I could fall back on -- a plan, in the very possible case that something went wrong...the possible case that I met a pink-haired little girl one day who would end up stabbing me through the heart, and scenarios of the like." He looked up and gave her a lazy half-smile before he continued. "I thought of everything. Every possibility that could result in my death, I considered. Believe it or not, I was not as willing to give up my human body as you might think...which only drove me to find a way in which I didn't have to."

"You were scared," she barely whispered. It wasn't a question yet at the same time he knew she wasn't mocking him; in her eyes Sasori could find nothing but sympathy, shock, and a slight amount of fear. _'She's not very good at masking herself, is she?'_

"Of course," he whispered back. "Though I dreamt of a non-human existence with no more pain, I harbored fear just as any human being does...and just as you do now."

"What did you do?" she asked breathlessly, trying to stifle her trembling by hugging her knees.

"I'd searched through my grandmother's documents enough to find and figure out how to use a type of forbidden jutsu." At this she gave a sharp gasp, but he continued. "I didn't like the idea of it, from what I had seen of some of Orochimaru's test subjects, but I had to know if it would work before I ruled it out completely. Chiyo-baa's life-transfer jutsu was the base of the operation -- it was how I was able to transfer my soul in the first place, although I made some changes so that the life of the user would not be sacrificed for my puppetry jutsu. I figured that if there was another me to start with, a puppet would not necessarily need a human sacrifice..." he sighed. "I learned how to create a clone through the forbidden jutsu, Sakura. An actual biological human clone of myself. That was the hardest part of the entire ordeal, but I had done it. It was with this accomplished that I then made many minor changes and developed an entirely new additional function to the jutsu...I'd made myself a way back."

Sakura's eyes widened and she was glad she had an empty stomach at the moment. " 'A way back...?' You mean...a way to reverse the jutsu?"

He nodded. "You know already that a human corpse is needed in order to create a hitokugutsu. By using the clone as the puppet itself, I was able to preserve my actual body in a time-altering jutsu so that I would not destroy my chances of ever turning back. The excessive use of chakra kept that body functioning, albeit painfully slowly, but the aging process was not completely stopped. As you see I am considerably taller than before. Since a human body and a human soul have, you could say, a spiritual bond of sorts...I was able to transfer my soul and my consciousness from the cloned hitokugutsu back to my real body before the 'death' that you swore you saw occurred. I am finally myself again...because of you."

"Y-You're not...angry with me?"

Sasori paused. "I was," he admitted, "because you, a simple girl from Konohagakure who seemed to show up out of nowhere, knowing nothing about me at all except for what my senile grandmother might have let slip, destroyed my greatest defense mechanism with a single punch. You have no idea how vulnerable I am now, being a human, compared to when I was a puppet." His voice then suddenly became very bitter, "That punch hurt like _hell._"

"It was self-defense," Sakura muttered.

He rolled his eyes. "My years of work in creating a clone felt useless when you killed it, so yes, I was furious. However...it is over now. My involvement with forbidden jutsu is over, and I can allow myself to forget about it peacefully. I can feel everything again, and...I am the real Sasori for the first time in twenty-one years."

Sakura was silent for a while before she spoke again, rising to her feet. "So I'm not here to quench any thirst for revenge?"

His half-lidded eyes widened. "You thought I wanted revenge on you? I am not the Uchiha boy, Sakura." He raised his eyebrows as her eyes snapped up to meet his at the sudden mention of that name. "Revenge is not something worth my time, and I assure you that if it were you would not be breathing right now. Revenge is foolish. Every day innocent people are killed; a shinobi should learn to accept death without being so affected by it."  
"Don't say it so harshly like that! You have no idea what a big impact that had on him--"

"--Oh, but don't I? Sasuke Uchiha is not the only one on this planet who has suffered something like that. I, too, know the pain of loss...still, after twenty-one years. Or didn't Chiyo-baa tell you that?"

Sakura mentally smacked herself as she remembered. Sasori's mother and father had been killed by the legendary White Fang of Konoha -- her former sensei's father. Sensing the offense he took to her trying to justify Sasuke's cause only made her feel guilty, because he was right, and she felt pathetic that after all these years she'd still defend him.

"You spoke of Akatsuki's raid in Konoha ending up a failure? Quite the contrary, actually. _We got exactly what we came for."_ The intensity with which he stared at her seemed to say something for itself, and a sob escaped her lips as she understood the meaning behind his words.

"M-Me? I'm the reason you attacked Konoha...? So this is...all my...fault?" Her voice had faded to a whisper as she thought of all of the innocent people who had fallen victim to Akatsuki's wrath only four days ago. And what had she been doing up until then? _Sleeping_, when she now knew that it was entirely her fault to begin with? Her knees buckled under her and she would have collapsed if Sasori hadn't caught her. _'I am so pathetic...'_

"Do not assume things." He sighed in frustration. "You mustn't feel as though we have brought you here with the intentions of making you miserable and keeping everything you should know from you." He stroked her hair. "It may feel that way now, but there is a reason for that; you must be patient. I hate having to wait for it too, believe me, Sakura I hate it more than anything. But Akatsuki is not what it seems. You are confused about me, I can see that. I made the mistake of taking my anger out on you yesterday before I stopped to think, which makes me a stranger to you now. But you must believe me when I say that soon you will know why you are here, why you are so important so that you may help us, and soon...you will know me in a different light...I hope..."

Regardless that she couldn't hear him, the puppeteer continued to talk to her and watch her long after she had already drifted into a peaceful slumber. _"Soon."_

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_**A/N: **_I never expected to update at 3 in the morning, but...I hope readers enjoyed my (short, terrible, and boring?) first chapter; hopefully chapter two was noticeably better! THANK YOU for reviewing my story to those of you who did, it makes me so happy (am I allowed to mention names in here, or is it against the rules or something? I'd like to, but I didn't want to chance it just in case I annoyed people...but I hope it doesn't seem like I'm any less thankful or anything!)! n.n I'm still very nervous when I upload something on here, because I'm so worried about what people will think of the things I spend my time writing about. In this chapter, Sasori's way of turning human again made my head spin as I tried to cover up every possible flaw as to how he did it. I hope nobody is confused! It's the scariest thing ever -- the anticipation I feel before people tell me what they think, knowing that anybody can see this...so if you read this please let me know! It makes me feel like there's a reason to why I'm writing this other than to improve my writing skills (because who's ever satisfied with where they are now? Yeah, I'm just one of those people...) Oh, and, I hope nobody gets offended from what Sasori said about Sasuke...he's just starting to notice that Sakura still has slight (and only slight!) feelings for him, but he doesn't really care yet. Believe me when I say that this is NOT a fanfiction any SasuSaku lovers will enjoy reading, though, for future reference as the chapters continue. I don't hate Sasuke in the least bit, and in fact SasuSaku was the only pairing I could even put up with for a long time, until I discovered Sasori of course. :) But it's rare to fall in love with one person as a kid and actually end up with them later on in life, I think. I'm only fourteen, so what do I know, but I feel more realistic writing about SasoSaku, especially since SasuSaku is extremely popular. I probably wouldn't be able to think of anything to write about that pairing that hasn't been written already!_

_I had a couple of questions that I wanted to ask my readers, because I've been wondering._

**1.**_ Am I rushing in my writing? After reading what I wrote over and over again I kinda start to memorize it, so I can't read it with the mentality that it's something new, if that makes any sense at all. After a while they just become words without any meaning, and it's hard to pick apart what I write and know how to make it better without feedback. I am open to constructive criticism (just not flames!).  
_**2.**_ Sasori's eye color is driving me insane. I want to say red, because that's what I can see when I look at the pictures, but then I start to see brown and gray and I can't make up my mind. I blame my terrible vision. In Shippuuden, his eyes looked red in some parts and light brown in others, but he WAS in a dark cave so the red may have been just an effect of the light...but still, why is he depicted with red eyes in a large amount of the fanart? I know it's called fanart for a reason, but so many of them seem to share that one thing in common. I use the word 'garnet' to describe his eyes because the stone itself can be red, brown, or reddish-brown...so really, it's a safe way to describe him without getting it wrong. I don't want to keep using 'garnet' over and over again, though, because it can be a bit annoying. So how do you see it?  
_**3.**_ Is this chapter still too short?_

_Anyway, I will work on chapter three as soon as I possibly can! I'm attempting to balance summer reading homework with what I actually want to write about, so I can't say for sure when my next update will be. I apologize for the horribly long Author's Notes...I see that I tend to go on forever, and I know that they're a pain to read. Thank you so much for reading regardless of that, though, and another thank you in advance to anyone who decides to answer my questions!_

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	3. To My Readers, please read this

Dear Readers:

I wanted to apologize for my lack of writing since July 14th. I'm sorry. I know that some people may be very irritated with me...but please hear me out, let me explain.

After my last update, I've had many ideas formulating in my head for the future of this story. No, I have not lost interest, and no, I am NOT giving up on this story...but something very unexpected happened and it's difficult for me to talk about, but I feel the need to justify my absence so I'm going to try my best and hope that you will understand.

I don't know how many of you have read about me in my profile, and you don't have to. But I am a 1st chair musician, a clarinetist. It is my sixth year of playing -- almost my seventh -- and music is one of the most important things in my life. This past summer at band camp, someone I've admired in all of my time of knowing him has passed away in an accident that never should have happened. His time ended much too early and I know he would have been a legend if given the chance. He was one of the best musicians, THE best saxophonist at 14 that I've ever heard. Nearly everyone at my school right now is shaken, as am I. None of it seems real to me, still. I've been thinking more and more about this lately because of an approaching concert my band will be having on May 13th, next Wednesday, which will be so difficult to put on without him. I thought about the sudden pause of this story and I'm sorry that it's taken so long to explain myself.

To me, writing is an art form. Please understand that in my time of grief and sadness it is difficult for me to write anything decent. I'm trying my best to get back on track, and I promise you all that you will read more of my writing when I get the chance to sit down and clear my thoughts and to concentrate. As important as my writing is to me, it's difficult to think of nothing but that...and it's difficult not to think about all that has happened. The end of the school year is very busy for me right now as well with class trips, concerts, and an adjudication (another band event that will be sad for all of us to go through when missing one), not to mention final exams. My time on the computer is limited, and I'm very very sorry. I cannot express how often I have sunk into despair, which has prevented me from being able to write anything worth reading.

I'm sorry for the formality of this letter which makes it seem almost unbelievable, but know that I speak the truth. I find it difficult to express all of my feelings of loss, especially over the internet. I'm sorry.  
Please know that I will continue to write, and once I can find a definite direction to put my writing in, I will update. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Take care and please stay safe.

The Red Beret 


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